Commentary
NPR: An Oft Unreported, But Formidable Airwaves Presence
- by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, August 9, 2006
According to a telephone study of 114,035 adults across 84 cities in 2005 and early 2006 recently released by The Media Audit, National Public Radio is the 4th most listened to radio format.
Bob Jordan, president of The Media Audit, commented "Listening to public radio has been growing steadily over the past 20 years.... Awareness of public radio's growth as a format (though) has not been that visible since data for public stations are not reported in the primary audience ratings service. Today National Public Radio garners an adult audience 75% as large as News/Talk, the largest format in the nation."
Radio Weekly Audience | ||
Rank | Format | Weekly Adult Audience (millions) |
1 | News/Talk | 19.4 |
2 | Country | 18.5 |
3 | Chr | 17.2 |
4 | NPR | 14.7 |
5 | Dance | 13.6 |
6 | Classic Rock | 12.1 |
7 | Rock | 11.6 |
8 | R&B - Urban | 11.2 |
9 | Religious | 11.0 |
10 | Talk | 10.1 |
Source: MediaAudit/Ipsos, 2006 | ||
"Programmers of commercial radio stations need to know who their competition is" says Jim Higginbotham, Chairman and head of research at The Media Audit. "Public radio stations are not a big factor in terms of the ad dollars they take from commercial radio, however public stations can be a big factor in garnering audience. And ultimately that can cost commercial radio revenue. National Public Radio stations edged ahead of Country as the number two format for adults' in "most listened to" stations."
Radio Listened To Most Often(millions) | ||
Rank | Format | Audience |
1 | News/Talk | 11.1 |
2 | NPR | 8.6 |
3 | Country | 8.4 |
4 | Religious | 6.1 |
5 | Talk | 5.1 |
5 | CHR | 5.1 |
5 | Dance | 5.1 |
8 | R&B - Urban | 4.3 |
9 | Rock | 4.2 |
10 | Classic Rock | 4.0 |
Source: MediaAudit/Ipsos, 2006 | ||
Of the top 10 formats, National Public Radio is the top format converting listeners into loyal listeners.
Conversion to Most Often Listener | |||
Weekly Cume(MM) | Most Often Listened To(MM) | Conversion Ratio(%) | |
NPR | 14.7 | 8.6 | 59% |
News/Talk | 19.4 | 11.1 | 57 |
Religious | 11.0 | 6.1 | 55 |
Talk | 10.1 | 5.1 | 50 |
Country | 18.5 | 8.4 | 45 |
R&B - Urban | 11.2 | 4.3 | 38 |
Dance | 13.6 | 5.1 | 38 |
Rock | 11.6 | 4.2 | 36 |
Classic Rock | 12.1 | 4.0 | 33 |
CHR | 17.2 | 5.1 | 30 |
Source: MediaAudit/Ipsos, 2006 | |||
Jack Loechner is the Editor of The Center for Media Research's daily Research Brief. You can reach him at jack@mediapost.com.